The Cultured Pumpernickel
by Hylen
Summary: A stranger from Olive's past visits the Pie Hole, and the gang finds themselves solving a mystery unlike any other. Meanwhile, Emerson discovers a new set of feelings he didn't know he had. ON HIATUS
1. The Stranger

Disclaimer: I do not own Pushing Daisies or it's characters.

Author's Note: This is my very first piece of fanfiction! I am very excited to be publishing my first story. Comments are welcome.

Charlotte Charles and Olive Snook were deep in conversation. Their heads were bent low and their whispers were audible only to them. Across the Pie Hole, Ned the pie maker and Emerson Cod had entered into a similar conversation. Seeing as these four were the only occupants of the little shop, it came as no surprise that none of them noticed the stranger with two suitcases who now stood in the doorway. That is, until she spoke, "Hi Olive."

Startled by the words that had broken the near silence everyone's heads snapped up. Tears formed in Olive's eyes as she looked at the stranger, recognizing her instantly.

"Nikki!" she said softly as she threw herself at the woman. Both of them stood there, rooted to the spot, hugging each other and crying.

The other three occupants of the Pie Hole looked at each other in various states of bewilderment, until Olive finally stepped back.

"I can't believe you're here," she said quietly, wiping the tears from her face.

"I know it's crazy, but I'm back for good," the stranger called Nikki replied. The next few minutes passed in silence until Emerson Cod couldn't take it anymore.

"So, who are you?" he questioned, giving her his toughest private eye glare.

"Um… I'm Olive's sister, Nikki," she replied.

Chuck turned to Olive, "since when do you have a sister?" she asked.

"Since I was three," Olive shot back.

"But you're tall and she's… well, not." Everyone was shocked to hear words come out of Ned's mouth in front of a stranger. They were even more shocked that his statement had been directed at said stranger.

"I'm not tall," Nikki retorted, "I'm average. I take after our father and Olive takes after our mother."

"Where have you been?" Olive asked her baby sister.

"Traveling," Nikki replied. Olive, however, was not satisfied with this answer.

"You've been 'traveling' for seven years and couldn't send a postcard?"

Ignoring the question and sitting down in the nearest booth, Nikki turned her attention back to the pie maker. "So, what kind of pie do you have?"

"Don't answer that question until she tells me why she hasn't seen or spoken to her family in seven years!" Olive shouted before Ned could provide a menu.

"I really wanted to, but I was embarrassed," Nikki said, looking ashamed. Slightly taken aback by the sincerity in her sister's voice, Olive quietly asked, "What were you embarrassed about?"

"My profession," Nikki said simply.

"Well, what were you doing?" Chuck question, unable to conceal her curiosity. Nikki sighed knowing that the truth would come out sooner or later.

"I was… a lion tamer," she said timidly. Emerson Cod's second outburst of the night came in the form of a hearty laugh.

"Your family is chock full of weirdos," he said between fits of laughter.

"Oh, why don't you go knit something," Nikki retorted. Emerson's face fell and he stood in shock; his secret had been discovered.

"How… how could… how did you know?" he stammered ignoring his friends' shocked expressions. Nikki turned to face the detective.

"You have calluses on your hands from the needles; also, your fingernails are stained from the dye in the yarn."

Chuck and Ned were awestruck, but Olive just smiled. Her sister had superior eyesight, which had been helpful when they were young and digging up worms. Olive chuckled at the memory, but quickly turned her attention to the issue at hand.

"So why did you just up and leave in the middle of the night?" she asked.

"I couldn't stand living there anymore. I was surrounded by horses when I wanted to be surrounded by lions and tigers," Nikki answered.

"Well… you always were good with cats." The sisters started cracking up and telling stories about all of Nikki's pet cats.

Finally, at two o'clock in the morning, Ned interrupted the girls' storytelling. He was tired and need to go up to bed, he explained. Chuck went with him and Emerson decided to go as well. Olive and Nikki were the only two left in the Pie Hole and Olive took advantage of the situation.

"Why did you decide to come back now?" she questioned.

"I need your help," Nikki answered. Olive gave her a worried look.

"Don't worry. I'm okay, Nikki stated, "I need you to help me solve a murder." Olive was stunned.

"What makes you think I can help you?" she asked.

"Mom said that there was an article in the paper about your friends and the last case that they solved. She also told me where to find you."

Olive laughed, "Well it figures she wouldn't be able to keep her mouth shut. I'll talk to Emerson tomorrow, but I doubt he'll want to help."

"Thank you so much," Nikki said, giving her big sister a hug. And with that, each grabbed a suitcase and walked out into the cool night air.

Author's Note: I hope you liked it! I'm not sure when I will be updating as I will be moving soon, but hopefully it won't be too long. Again comments are always welcome. I would like to thank Kate, a.k.a. The Lonely Goatherd, for inspiring me to write this piece of fanfiction. She also answered all of my many questions and for that I will be forever grateful.

Jessica a.k.a. Hylen


	2. Pets

Disclaimer: I do not own Pushing Daisies or any part of it… although I wish I did.

Author's Note: This is a flashback chapter. It gives us a little more background about Nikki. Ned, Chuck, and Emerson do not appear. So, in honor of the fact that classes started today here is Chapter 2!

* * *

"Ready or not, here I come!" shouted the small blonde. Olive knew exactly where she would find her sister, so she ran around to the back of the house and threw open the cellar doors.

"Nikki, where are you?" Olive asked quietly. She knew that if she asked that question a few times her sister would start to giggle. This time, however, there were no giggles. The only sound was that of Olive's tiny feet brushing against the dust on the floor.

"Where could she be?" Olive asked herself, the answer coming to mind almost immediately, "oh no, not again." Olive walked out of the cellar and went straight to the barn. She climbed the ladder up to the hayloft where she was met with the strangest sight she had ever seen.

* * *

The facts were these, at 5 years, 37 days, 29 minutes, and 5 seconds old; Nikki Snook knew that she would grow up to be a lion tamer. Cats loved her and she could get them to do things that no one had ever seen a cat do before. On this particular day, she had taker her cat Peanut Butter up to the hayloft to teach him some tricks.

Young Nikki had gotten the idea while hiding from her sister. She was on her way to the cellar, her favorite hiding place, when she saw Jelly, their dog, coming toward her. He stopped a few feet short and then dropped the hula hoop he had been holding in his mouth. He then rolled over and got up and walked away. Nikki's eyes brightened with the sudden idea that had popped into her mind. She ran into the house to find Peanut Butter and took him into the barn.

* * *

Olive stared at her sister in disbelief. Nikki was spinning a hula hoop around her arm then dropping to the ground and rolling over in the same direction. At first Olive thought her sister was crazy, but noticed that whenever Nikki rolled over the cat rolled over.

"What in the world are you doing?" Olive asked, startling her sister.

"Hang on one more second. I think he's almost got it," Nikki replied as she started to spin the hula hoop once more. This time, as she spun the hula hoop the cat rolled over.

"Peanut Butter you did it!" Nikki cried. She scooped up the cat and began to shower it with love and affection. Olive couldn't believe her eyes. Had she really just seen a cat no only roll over, but do it at the spin of a hoop?

"Put him down and do that again," Olive commanded. Nikki obliged and performed the trick again and again. Olive couldn't believe that her five year old sister had been able to teach a cat to perform a trick, let alone do it so quickly.

"How did you do that?" Olive asked, awestruck.

"Well I just spin the hula hoop and then I roll over. I do it over and over again and eventually Peanut Butter learned to roll over." Nikki replied, feeling proud of herself.

"Well I figured that, but how did you do it so quickly?" Olive retorted.

"I don't know. He just seemed to get it," Nikki said, looking a little confused.

"We have got to show mom and dad!" Olive exclaimed. She grabbed the cat and grabbed her sister's arm. The two girls hurried down the ladder and rushed into the house.

* * *

Nikki and Peanut Butter performed their tricks for the entire county every month. Since that fateful day of playing hide and seek, she had taught him to sit, stand, shake, and play dead in addition to rolling over. She was currently trying to teach him to speak. Things weren't going so well.

"Come on Peanut Butter! When I spin the hula hoop around my foot you speak! Why aren't you getting this? You got everything else so quickly," Nikki whined.

"Maybe he can't speak." Nikki jumped. She didn't realize that Olive had been watching them.

"What did you say?" Nikki asked, recovering quickly.

"I said 'maybe he can't speak.' Think about it. Have you ever heard him meow or make any other kind of sound?" Olive replied.

"Well, no I guess I haven't. This means we have to get a new cat," Nikki said.

"What are you talking about? We have a perfectly good cat right here!" Olive stated.

"No we don't. You said it yourself. He can't speak!" Nikki retorted as she marched into the house to ask her parents for yet another pet.

* * *

"Girls where are you? We have a surprise!" Mrs. Snook announced as she walked through the front door. Olive and Nikki ran down the stairs. They absolutely loved surprises.

"Now close your eyes and walk carefully out onto the porch." The sisters obeyed their mother immediately. Once outside, they felt their mother's hands on their shoulders stopping them in their place. Soon after, they heard their father's voice.

"Alright girls, are you ready? Now when I count to three open your eyes, okay? One…two…three!" The sisters' eyes flew open. They both squealed at the sight before them. Their father was standing next to a pony and holding two squirming kittens.

"Ah! You got me a pony!" Olive screamed.

"I can't believe you got me _two_ kittens!" Nikki yelled.

"Y'all are welcome," said their mother, going down to take one of the kittens.

"So, what are their names?" asked their father.

"Well, this one has reddish brown fur so she will be Cherry. And this one has yellowish fur so he will be Apple," Nikki decided.

"I think I'm going to call him Pi," said Olive plainly.

"Pi? That's a weird name," Nikki stated.

"Oh yeah? Well so is Pumpernickel!" Olive retorted.

"Don't call me that! You know I hate it!" Nikki wailed as she ran inside. Olive followed her up to their room, teasing and taunting her little sister the whole way. Their parents stood outside, surrounded by animals, trying their hardest not to laugh.

* * *

Author's Note: And there you have it! I'm not sure when I'll be updating next as classes started today and I am currently searching for a job. Hopefully it won't be another month, but who knows. Thanks for reading and comments are always welcome!

Until next time,

Jess


	3. The Big Top

Disclaimer: I don't own Pushing Daisies or anything to do with it… but it would be totally awesome if I did

* * *

Emerson Cod sat in his favorite booth reading a newspaper. There was nothing unusual about this. When Olive sat down across from him, he made a few sarcastic remarks as usual, knowing that she would ignore him. Their routine changed however, the moment she asked for his help.

"I really need your help."

"No," was his reply.

"Please, it's for Nikki."

"The answer is still no," Emerson said although he paused slightly before saying it.

Seeing as Olive was getting nowhere, Nikki marched over to the booth and plopped down next to Emerson.

"You better move before you get hurt," Emerson growled.

"Oh, you wouldn't hurt a girl. Besides I need your help," Nikki stated.

"What could you possibly need from me?" Emerson asked, failing to hide his curiosity.

"I need you to help me solve a murder," Nikki responded.

Emerson put his newspaper down and folded his hands. He closed his eyes and sat there for a moment not saying a word. The sisters later commented on the fact it looked like he was praying. Emerson was in fact praying. He was praying for the strength to get though whatever the sisters wanted without killing one of them.

"Who was murdered and where did it happen?" he finally asked.

"Well, it was two days ago at work," Nikki began.

"Work meaning the circus," Olive interrupted. She was met with glares that said, "Yeah we figured that." She apologized and shut her mouth.

"Anyway, one of the clowns was found dead in the cannon," continued Nikki.

"So he was supposed to be shot out of the cannon and it backfired. Case closed. I'll be nice and only charge half price for that one," Emerson said, returning to his newspaper.

"That's not now it happened. He was hit over the head with a shovel and then put into the cannon," Nikki retorted.

"That is some crazy messed up… stuff," Olive interjected.

"Alright I'll admit I'm intrigued, but I want to see where this happened first. And we're bringing the other with us," Emerson told the sisters. He figured they would have to take two cars if Ned and Chuck came along. Then, he could make Chuck ride with Olive and Nikki and enjoy some peace and quiet.

* * *

Emerson Cod really was a generally happy person. He may not appear that way from the outside, but on the inside he was usually beaming. However at this moment, he was very unhappy. At this particular moment he was in the backseat of Ned's car, sandwiched between Olive and Nikki. What had he done to deserve such a horrible fate? Emerson knew he would never be able to answer that question. So he just closed his eyes and thought about the new scarf that he was knitting. Before he knew it, they had arrived.

* * *

Mr. Big's Big Top Over The Top Circus was the biggest, grandest circus in the region. It was famous for its death defying acrobats, funnier than funny clowns, and fearless lion tamer. In the last few days however, it was becoming more and more famous for the death of one of its clowns and the sudden disappearance of its lion tamer. Mr. Byron Big had locked himself in his office and would not come out. He told all of his performers that he would come out when they brought back his lion tamer.

"I'm ruined without her. She was our main attraction. People came from all over the country just to see her," he muttered to himself. Then, he heard a knock on the door and the three most beautiful words he had ever heard.

"Byron it's Nikki."

Byron Big had never jumped up so fast in his life. He ran to the door and threw it open. There standing before him was Nikki Snook, his lion tamer. He was so happy that he didn't notice her "posse" standing behind her. That is, until he invited her in.

"Oh, I see you've brought some friends with you," he said, nervous that there wouldn't be enough room in the small trailer.

"I hope your friends are willing to pay Nikki. You know I'll let one or two slide, but four is just too much money to pass up," Byron stated, never failing to put his business first.

"I'm not here to perform. I'm done performing. We are here to solve Charleston's murder," Nikki replied wanting to get straight to the point.

"Ah, my sweet girl, there are many who believe you are the one who murdered dear Mr. Choo," Byron said sweetly with a small twinkle in his eye.

"Well, I'll tell you right now that it wasn't me. Charlie was my best friend and I could never do that to him." Nikki couldn't believe her ears. Did people really think that she had murdered Charlie? It probably had something to do with her disappearing so soon after the murder had occurred. Now that she thought back on it, that hadn't been one of her best ideas. But Nikki didn't care about that. All she wanted to do was find the person who killed her best friend.

"Look, I don't care what people think. I don't know who killed Charlie, but we're going to find out who did," Nikki told Byron. And with that she and the rest of the group walked out of the office leaving Byron open mouthed and alone.

* * *

Author's note: I hope you liked it! I will probably be updating more often since I have a long break between classes. We will see what happens. Thanks for reading and comments are always welcome!

Jess


	4. Circus Soul Mates

Disclaimer: Legally I can't say that I own Pushing Daisies, that I made up the story and the characters, that I have written every episode, or that I am responsible for the show in any way. Legally I can't say those things… because they aren't true.

Author's Note: Thanks to Joy for helping me with the end.

* * *

The facts were these, at 3 years, 10 months, and 27 days Charleston Choo decided that when he grew up he would be a clown. This revelation may not come as a surprise. Many children want to be clowns when they grow up. Being a clown is one of the top career choices made by children. It is right up there with being a doctor and the President. Most of the change their minds as they get older. They realize that they don't have the smarts to be a doctor or the charisma to be President. Hardly any of them stick with the decision to become a clown, since that isn't a "cool" thing to do.

Charleston was different from the other children though. He could make anybody laugh, even the grumpiest old man. Everyone told him that he needed to become a comedian. He would smile politely and just say 'No thanks, I'm going to be a clown.'

"But no one likes clowns. There isn't any money in that line of work," they would all tell him.

"There are plenty of young children who will go to the circus just to see a clown," was always his reply.

Young Charleston had a sad childhood. He may have appeared to be happy from the outside, but inside he was hurting. His family didn't believe in him and didn't think that he would succeed as a clown. He also had no friends because all of the other kids thought he was weird.

* * *

Every year on his birthday, Charleston took himself to the circus. And it was on his thirteenth birthday, that a chance encounter changed his life forever.

Sitting in the front row, perched on the edge of her seat, was the most beautiful girl Charleston Choo had ever seen. She had long brown hair and beautiful almond-shaped eyes. He sat down, leaving a couple of empty seats between them, and as soon as he did, she turned in his direction.

"I'm going to do that one day," she told him confidently.

"Do what?" He had no idea what she was referring to.

"I'm going to be in the circus. I'm going to be a world famous lion tamer," she replied, still exuding confidence. With that statement, Charleston knew he had found his soul mate.

"My name is Charleston and I'm going to be a clown," he told her, extending his hand for a shake.

"I'm Nikki and, like I said, I'm going to be a lion tamer." She took his hand in hers and shook. Charleston couldn't help, but notice that their hands seemed to fit perfectly together.

"I've seen you here before," Nikki said, her face full of kindness.

"I come every year. This is my birthday present to myself," he told her. He knew that she wouldn't judge him. After all, they were kindred spirits.

"Today is my birthday too. I saved my allowance all year so I could buy a ticket." Nikki smiled shyly. She hated for people to know that she lived on a farm and didn't have a whole lot of money.

"It's okay, I had to save my allowance too," Charleston told her. During the course of their short conversation they had each moved one seat over so that they were now sitting next to each other. They had also not stopped holding hands. Both of them realized this at once, but still held on. From that moment on, they were inseparable; until that fateful night when the world got turned upside down.

* * *

Because Charleston performed at the beginning and end of every show and Nikki's act went on in the middle, the two rarely got to see each other beforehand. One was always in makeup and costume while the other was practicing last minute. Due to this, they had a standing dinner date after every show. They always ate in Nikki's trailer since Charlie shared his with the other five clowns.

That night, however, Charlie didn't show up. It wasn't unusual for him to be a few minutes late as the boys sometimes held him up. So Nikki waited a few minutes. Before she knew it, forty-five minutes had passed. Tired of waiting, Nikki got up and decided to go looking for Charleston.

She went first to his trailer, but the boys told her that he had left almost an hour ago. As Nikki turned away from the trailer, she thought she saw someone over by the cannons.

"Charlie is that you?" she asked tentatively, as she walked over to the tent. The person moved and it looked as if they had gone behind the largest cannon. Nikki followed, but stopped frozen in horror as soon as she had reached the tent.

She opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Nikki started running in the opposite direction, as that was the only thing she knew to do. She rushed back to her trailer and threw all of her belongings into two suitcases. Where would she go? She could go to her parents' house. However, they wouldn't be too pleased about her sneaking off in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Then it hit her. She would go to Olive. Olive could get that horrible image out of her mind; the image of her soul mate and her best friend, dead and shoved into a cannon.

Nikki quickly grabbed her suitcases and slipped away amongst the trees into the night. She didn't know exactly what she would tell Olive, or how she would tell her. All Nikki knew was that Olive and her friends were the only solution.

* * *

Author's Note: And then there were four. I hope you liked it! I will probably be updating on Thursday or Friday since I have way too much time on my hands. We shall see.

Until next time,

Jess


End file.
